NTSB CAROL · Event
Event MIA98LA214
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot's failure to maintain control of the helicopter while maneuvering resulting in the main rotor blades striking the ground.
Factual narrative
On July 29, 1998, about 1845 central daylight time, a Bell 47-D1 helicopter, N1016A, registered to a private individual, crashed near Monticello, Mississippi, while on a Title 14 CFR Part 137 aerial application flight. Visual meteorological conditions were reported and no flight plan was filed. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. The commercial-rated pilot was not injured. The flight originated from an industrial park the same day, at 1800. While maneuvering during an aerial application, the pilot said that he was attempting to clear some power lines when he reported that the engine lost power and the rotor rpm dropped, resulting in a loss of control. Examination of the wreckage by the FAA revealed that fuel was present. No discrepancies were found with the flight controls. According to the FAA inspector's statement, "...when he [pilot] attempted to climb over the powerlines to his left, he seemed to have lost power and the aircraft came back down on [the] right side and [the] blade struck the ground and he crashed. According to the FAA inspector's report the pilot lost control of the helicopter, and no discrepancies were found with the airframe or the engine. The pilot did not return the NTSB Form 6120.1/2. His factual account of the accident is not known. While maneuvering during an aerial application, the pilot said that he was attempting to clear some power lines when he reported that the engine lost power and the rotor rpm dropped, resulting in a loss of control. The helicopter struck the ground sideways, and rolled over, causing the main rotor blades to strike the ground. Examination of the wreckage by the FAA revealed that fuel was present. The FAA inspector said, '...when he [pilot] attempted to climb over the powerlines to his left, he seemed have lost power and the aircraft came back down on [the] right side and [the] blade struck the ground and he crashed. According to the FAA inspector's report the pilot lost control of the helicopter, and no discrepancies could be found with the airframe or the engine. The pilot did not return the NTSB Form 6120.1/2. His factual account of the accident are not known. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1998_MIA98LA214.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Conference Paper
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
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